How many miles away is the Sun from the planet Earth?

by Alpha Posted 2008/06/25 19:34:23
in Astronomy

15 votes
Read all 44 opinions
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		9.3 million miles
		39 million miles
		63 million miles
		93 million miles
	Undecided (Please leave a comment)
	None of the above (Please leave a comment)

Loading Demographics... Click an icon to see demographic results Display unknown and private
	9.3 million miles	0 votes	0%
	39 million miles	1 vote	7%
	63 million miles	0 votes	0%
	93 million miles	11 votes	73%
	Undecided	2 votes	13%
	None of the above	1 vote	7%

This appeared as the million dollar question on the game show “Who wants to be a Millionaire”.

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NarcolepticGoat 2008/06/26 17:05:05

Undecided

+3
One astronomical unit!
>> See Replies

Xuthus 2009/09/13 23:25:26

93 million miles

Or there about.

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Mark1962 2009/09/10 14:00:38

93 million miles

Just let me say that 1975 is when I got started in this and my answer is based on almost 35 years of Interest in Observing the visible Universe from California near Disneyland.

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Capt Wolfe 2009/08/09 04:08:29

93 million miles

Mean distance from the sun is 92,957,200 miles

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Reborn 2009/04/05 06:58:11

93 million miles

On average. This number actually varies by both the seasons of the year, and by the varying nature of earth's orbit itself. It's not always elliptical, but rhythmically gets closer to a circular orbit then back to an ellipse.

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Comrade Volizden 2009/02/07 18:52:40

93 million miles

+1
My favorite Astronomy Prof in college, of whom I was his class assistant, would always tell the Gen Ed classes that:

"the sun is roughly 93 million MILES and 150 Million KILO METERS so for an easy way to remember the distance, especially since Americans refuse to shift to metrics, is to remember its "About" 100 million then you can remember it is half again as much for Kilometers and I will take that answer on the test."

So I have always remember the rough distance because basically Freshmen are Stupid...

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Alpha to Comrade... 2009/08/21 20:03:13

And full of come. lol

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steve 2009/01/30 21:22:15

Undecided

+2
Who works in miles for astronomy? ;)
I always remeber it is about 8 light minutes away so hmmmm thats about
480 seconds so 3x10^8 meters/second gives us
4.8 x 3x10^10 meters = 14.4x10^10 meters = 1.44x10^11meters which equals (using gogle calc) 89 477 451.7 miles
so I guess 93 million

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Comrade... to steve 2009/02/07 19:07:04

+1
OMGZ You actually did the math...

You my friend are a true GEEK... You Rule

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steve to Comrade... 2009/02/07 22:41:23

thanks :)

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Alpha to steve 2009/08/21 19:52:42 (edited)

It sounds like you went further along studying astronomy then I ever did in college!

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steve to Alpha 2009/08/22 02:01:25

thanks, dimensional analysis in physics

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Xuthus to steve 2009/09/13 23:35:00

+1
0.00001585 light years.
If anyone cares

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steve to Xuthus 2009/09/14 00:01:58

+1
very nice

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Xuthus to steve 2009/09/14 00:32:19

Thank you, Steve.

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steve to Xuthus 2009/09/14 15:59:30

now give it in swallow flight time ;)

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Xuthus to steve 2009/09/14 22:42:39

+1
African or European Swallow?

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steve to Xuthus 2009/09/15 00:20:03

+1
Clearly the african is the only swallow capable of interstellar flight

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Decahedron~~The Frozen Flame ♂ 2009/01/29 04:19:02

None of the above

Approximately - 93 million miles but it changes because the earths orbit is not perfectly round.

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Dave Sawyer ♥ Child of God ♥ 2009/01/29 04:12:36

93 million miles

But the picture is of Neptune, and the the distance varies about a million miles either way, being closest in January and farthest in July.

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Alpha to Dave Sa... 2009/08/21 19:53:49 (edited)

+1
"on average". The picture was used to trick people, but you got it right.

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NickName his Dudeness 2009/01/29 01:45:21

93 million miles

Depends on the time of year I think, but give or take...

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scoop16 2009/01/10 14:32:09

93 million miles

93 million miles...and not a Starbucks between here and there...yet.

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NarcolepticGoat 2008/06/26 17:05:05

Undecided

+3
One astronomical unit!

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Dave Sa... to Narcole... 2009/01/29 04:13:29

On average.

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Decahed... to Narcole... 2009/01/29 04:20:04

I like your thinking!

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Comrade... to Narcole... 2009/02/07 18:55:31

+3
That is a Beautifully perfect Smart assed Answer...

/Props

I Chuckled

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Narcole... to Comrade... 2009/02/07 19:03:18

ty ty

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Reborn to Comrade... 2009/04/05 06:59:07

True, but completely accurate! lol!!!

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CHUCK - Liberal in Seattle 2008/06/26 04:04:08

93 million miles

When I was a kid that was in a comercial, 93 million miles away. I don't remember what they were selling, I think it was Wonder Bread!

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Icedragon1969 2008/06/25 21:31:38

93 million miles

+2
It's a good question honestly. I find one of the big things that people miss about astronomy is the sheer distances involved.

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NickNam... to Icedrag... 2009/01/29 01:47:56

+2
yep...it's hard to even imagine them. AU's are tiny on a galactic scale. And what really blows me away is how much empty space is in between everything. It's almost depressing...lol.

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Reborn to NickNam... 2009/04/05 07:00:08

+1
Have you seen the scale demonstration of the solar system done on a football field?

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NickNam... to Reborn 2009/04/05 07:15:51

+1
Not on a football field, but on a trail that ran by the astronomy building where I went to undergrad. There's also an interesting set of signs in DC outside the museums that has the scale of the planets and the distances.

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Reborn to NickNam... 2009/04/05 07:19:57

+1
The one I saw was done on a football field. The sun was on the goal line. (to shorten the story) the earth was on the 3 yard line.

The Kuiper belt was outside of the stadium, across the street and scattered into the surrounding block. The Ort cloud was WAY outside of that.

On the Universal scale, this is a miniscule distance, but on the human scale a lifetime wouldn't be enough to travel the radius.

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NickNam... to Reborn 2009/04/05 07:23:55

+1
What's interesting is that most people think everything in between is just empty space. It turns out most scientists today think the space isn't so empty afterall.

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Reborn to NickNam... 2009/04/05 14:13:33

+1
I know. I'm studying cosmology.

What's your postdoc on? Is astronomy a hobby or something more? Good to know, as an aside, that we have this to agree on completely.

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NickNam... to Reborn 2009/04/05 20:02:22

+1
Astronomy is just a hobby. I'm actually studying to be a vamp...er...I mean attorney. And by all means if you have any good lawyer jokes, feel free to share.

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Reborn to NickNam... 2009/04/06 07:01:04

+1
I got too many friends that are lawyers. They're not all bad.

I was about to get my JD, but got completely disenchanted with the manipulation the system encourages and tolerates.

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NickNam... to Reborn 2009/04/06 16:02:46

+1
Not going to argue with you there. Sometimes I get that salmon swimming upstream feeling.

There is a lot wrong with our legal system.

On the other hand, it's probably something along the same lines as our system of our government overall, it's the worst system out there aside from every other system that actually exists (not to borrow from Churchill without giving him credit).

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Reborn to NickNam... 2009/04/07 05:30:38

+1
Yeah, I get the salmon analogy. Further, the salmon ends up being a bear turd in the end. Not much to look forward to, is there?

It has its flaws, but it has its good points too. An all inclusive government is an elusive beast.

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